-newsclick.in Modi government has been mercilessly hiking up taxes on petrol and diesel to take money from the people and boost its resources. Since the prices of petroleum products were deregulated some years back and supposedly “linked” to markets, the central government has weaponised this to simply impose an indirect tax burden on the people. Take the four big metros: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. On an average, petrol prices have increased from...

-Down to Earth Bihar usually gets heavy rains in July and August; floods in June are an unusual occurrence, experts said Several villages have been flooded after 3-4 days of early monsoon rains in the catchment areas of the Gandak and Burhi Gandak rivers in Nepal and north Bihar. Affected districts include West Champaran, East Champaran, Gopalganj and Muzaffarpur. Other rivers including the Bagmati, Koshi, Kamla Balan, Bhuthi Balan and Ghaghara are also...

-newslaundry.com The state’s River Training Policy appears designed to allow near unfettered mining of sand and boulders by private contractors, bypassing green clearance and scientific assessment. In November 2020, a few months before floods ravaged Uttarakhand, the deputy collector of Purnagiri in Tanakpur district announced an open auction of tenders to desilt the riverbed in Champawat’s villages. Tenders for government work usually seek the lowest bidder, the contractor willing to do the job...

-The Hindu 14 States/Union Territories achieved 100% level of birth registrations: report The level of registration of births and deaths in the country improved in 2019, according to the “Vital Statistics of India Based on The Civil Registration System” report. Some States and Union Territories were, however, lagging behind. The report states that the level of birth registration increased from 87.8% in 2018 to 92.7% in 2019; and death registrations went up from 84.6%...

-The Hindu The facility will povide support to infants and young children at risk of or with disabilities. The Union Social Justice and Empowerment (SJE) Ministry on Thursday launched 14 cross disability early intervention centres across the country to provide support to infants and young children at risk of or with disabilities. SJE Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot virtually inaugurated the centres that are located at seven national institutes and seven composite regional centres of...